Summary: The Planning and Evaluation (P&E) Core of the Partnership monitors and tracks the functioning of the research projects, programs and Cores. Our extensive experience in evaluation and tracking drawing from both our U56 (2005-2010) and U54 (2010-2015) funding periods allowed us to develop, test and refine models of evaluation to guide all the activities of the Partnership, and our tremendous success to- date is largely attributable to the strength of our P&E Core characterized by recruiting strong and senior scientists to help us in our assessments, and putting in place mechanisms and processes to track, evaluate, improve and ensure the sustainability of all of our activities. During the renewal, the Partnership will seek to further streamline these models and engage key institutional leaders and faculty of UMass Boston and DF/HCC around the central goal of effective and well-integrated programmatic and scientific management that is mutually beneficial across both institutions. The specific aims of the P&E Core are to: 1) Establish the overall goals and objectives of the Partnership and foster a culture of outcomes-driven, transdisciplinary cancer and cancer health disparities research programs ranging from ?Cells to Society;? 2) Provide future planning services to ensure sustainability for research projects, research education programs, outreach and Partnership initiatives; 3) Oversee ongoing tracking and evaluation of funded research projects and Cores to ensure productivity, and monitor their progress in response to the reviews of the IAC and PSC; 4) Ensure integration of the Research Education, Outreach and Shared Resource Cores across all Partnership programs, and monitor Core effectiveness; 5) Provide incubator resources such as grant opportunity identification and proposal development for: a) early stage investigators (ESIs) to support their growth into independently-funded researchers, and b) funded research projects and Cores to leverage external and institutional funding opportunities; 6) Facilitate networking and foster collaborations among Partnership Investigators, faculty, postdoctoral fellows and key administrators; 7) Identify opportunities for expanding the U54 Partnership in areas of high potential impact through collaboration and development of synergies with other institutional activities and initiatives; 8) Facilitate and promote cutting- edge and novel research, through the oversight of the process for soliciting and evaluating new projects and programs, and use the outcomes of this process to inform new Partnership infrastructural investments and investigator recruitments; and 9) Provide guidance for central Partnership activities, and monitor and implement institutional commitments with the goal of further integrating the UMass Boston and DF/HCC communities.